This disclosure relates to methods for deposition of sensor materials onto optical storage media for the analysis of physical, chemical and biological species and sensors produced thereby for quantitation of volatile and nonvolatile compounds in fluids.
Quantitation of biological and chemical compounds and other parameters is typically performed using dedicated sensor systems that are specifically designed for this purpose. These sensor systems operate using a variety of principles including electrochemical, optical, acoustic, magnetic, and many other types of detection. See, e.g., Mandelis, et al., Physics, Chemistry and Technology of Solid State Gas Sensor Devices, Wiley (New York, N.Y.), 1993; Potyrailo, et al., “Optical Waveguide Sensors in Analytical Chemistry: Today's Instrumentation, Applications and Future Development Trends”, Fresenius' J. Anal. Chem. 1998, 362, 349-373; Albert, et al., “Cross-reactive Chemical Sensor Arrays”, Chem. Rev. 2000, 100, 2595-2626. Alternatively, a variety of colorimetric liquid and solid reagents are available to perform visual evaluation of color change. Kolthoff, “Acid-Base Indicators”, The MacMillan Company (New York), 1937; “Chemical Detection of Gaseous Pollutants” Ruch, W. E., Ed., Ann Arbor Science Publishers (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 1968.
Previously, it has been suggested that CD/DVD drives can be used for conducting optical inspection of biological, chemical, and biochemical samples. However, in order to make these drives useful for detection of parameters not related to digital data stored on optical media, the optical system of the drives is preferably modified, in some cases by having additional optical detectors. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,577.
As the use of CD/DVD drives has developed, the development of sensors in conjunction with optical storage media has also developed for use in the CD/DVD drives. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,031 discloses optical discs having a semi-reflective layer to reflect a portion of light to one detector and transmit a portion of light to another detector.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,349 describes another optical-drive-based measurement system. In this system, the analyte-specific signal elements are disposed within the optical storage media's tracking features. Thus, the analyte-specific signal elements are readable by the optics used for tracking, although modified or additional optics elements are added. For the system to be applicable, the signal responsive moiety is of a small size, compatible with the size of the focused light beam and is reflective. Most preferably, it is a gold microsphere with a diameter between 1 and 3 micrometers. Another method has been also described to screen the recognition between small molecule ligands and biomolecules using a conventional CD player. A procedure was developed to attach ligands to the reading face of a CD by activating the terminus of polycarbonate, a common polymer composite within the reading face of a CD. Displays were generated on the surface of a CD by printing tracks of ligands on the disc with an inkjet printer. Using this method, discs were created with entire assemblies of ligand molecules distributed into separate blocks. A molecular array was developed by assembling collections of these blocks to correlate with the CDROM-XA formatted data stored within the digital layer of the disc. Regions of the disc containing a given ligand or set of ligands were marked by their spatial position using the tracking and header information. Recognition between surface expressed ligands and biomolecules was screened by an error determination routine (see Org. Biomol. Chem., 1, 3244-3249 (2003)).
Deposition methods used for preparation of sensor regions and/or spots onto optical storage media include inkjet printing and robotic or manual drop addition onto the surface of the disc (U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,349), light directed synthesis of biological microarrays on the disc (International Patent Application No. WO 98/12559), and spotting of arrays on the disc (International Patent Application No. WO 99/35499). Analyte-specific reagents utilized in such sensor regions or spots can be arranged in arrays, for example, combinatorial arrays (International patent application WO 98/12559). In addition to the application of solid and gel types of analyte-specific reagents to discs, other types of reagents utilized in sensor regions/spots include liquid-containing reagents (see, Anal. Chem. 71, pp. 4669-4678 (1999).
For deposition of sensing spots onto optical storage media, it would be advantageous to apply these sensing spots in a highly reproducible manner and in well-defined locations. Improved methods for depositing such sensor spots onto optical storage media substrate are thus desirable.